


In a Bitter Syrup

by dogfighter3000



Series: Fluff, Angst, and General Prompt Fills [4]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sick Character, Sickfic, Tumblr Prompt, other characters mentioned but they didnt have speaking lines so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29726832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogfighter3000/pseuds/dogfighter3000
Summary: “Are you ok? You sound like you’ve been gargling glass,” Bucky teases, moseying on over to where Sam was focusing on not collapsing into the nearest chair at the breakfast table.Sam hadn’t wanted to face the facts, been denying it two days straight. He was well and truly sick and Bucky was going to have a fucking field day with it.(one-liner prompt #1 “Are you ok? You sound like you’ve been gargling glass.”)
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson
Series: Fluff, Angst, and General Prompt Fills [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178573
Comments: 3
Kudos: 87





	In a Bitter Syrup

**Author's Note:**

> I used prompt #1 from One-Liner Prompt List #1 by write-it-motherfuckers on tumblr and also physical affection prompt #25 from physical affection prompts! by promptingyou on tumblr and the title of the chapter is from In A Bitter Syrup by The Scary Jokes
> 
> (this is unedited, let me know if there are any glaring errors that need to be corrected in the comments!)

It was an incredible experience, getting to work with so many famous heroes on the Avengers team. An honor, really, being considered capable enough to be a part of the team. Especially when more than half the team is enhanced and Sam is just an extremely competent man with superb piloting skills and an affinity for birds that everybody on the team doubted was actually true, but one day...ONE DAY. One day he’d show them all. Screw the haters, see them laugh when he gets an army of pigeons to crap all over them the next time they’re in the city. Sam would have done it by now too if the birds in New York weren’t as callous as the people living there.

That’s aside from the point. The point being that Sam is incredibly grateful for the opportunities he’s had. Extremely grateful that he’s saved all the lives he had in his line of work. It’s an honor to work with the Avengers and keep the Earth safe from anything that may threaten it.

All that said, Sam really fucking hates his job sometimes.

Especially when it’s mid-winter at the height of flu season and he’s had his arms wrapped around tons of injured citizens as he’s helped them from the wreckage of their latest battle. There were no casualties this time, again Sam was extremely grateful, but there were lots of bumps and bruises as people struggled to escape the horde of shoddily built Doom Bots that had been released into downtown Manhattan.

This time around, the Avengers had more than enough aerial support. Thor was back in the compound for once, and Wasp had been nearby enough to join the fray. Those two, along with Iron Man, paired with Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier’s sniper expertise? The Doom Bots were as good as sitting ducks. Sam focused his attention on helping Natasha with evacuating the citizens.

Natasha wasn’t entirely forthright with her past, even with her closest teammates. From what little Sam did know about her upbringing, he really doesn’t blame her. But what they’ve gathered from her carefully worded stories is that she isn’t entirely human anymore. Whether that means she’s super soldier level of enhanced or something just below it, all they know is that she has more than enough to keep up with both the Brooklyn boys. 

Therefore, she didn’t fall prey to the truly nasty virus that Sam’s caught from one of the dozens of people he’d been up close and personal with a couple days ago.

It had started yesterday with a persistent itch in his throat that lasted all day. No big deal, Sam was a grown ass man, afterall. Drinking a cup of hot tea before bed seemed to do the trick and he slept alright that night. The real problem began the next morning. 

For probably the first time ever, Bucky was up and out of bed before Sam even woke up. Which should have been the first sign that something wasn’t right. The second sign would have been the persisting brain fog lingering around his head like an ominous rain cloud over him. Then the third, most damning, piece of evidence appears when he finally shuffles into the common area and calls out a greeting to the few Avengers gathered there.

“G’uh...mrn..” Sam rasps out, utterly butchering his simple ‘good morning’ message. Tony and Bruce look up from where they were avidly discussing something on the billionaire’s starkpad, Natasha huffs (the closest she gets to a laugh), and Steve and Thor’s argument over what actually constitutes as a good breakfast falls silent. But Bucky? Bucky whirls around with a look on his face like christmas came early.

“Are you ok? You sound like you’ve been gargling glass,” Bucky teases, moseying on over to where Sam was focusing on not collapsing into the nearest chair at the breakfast table. 

Sam hadn’t wanted to face the facts, been denying it two days straight. He was well and truly sick and Bucky was going to have a fucking field day with it. Don’t mistake, Bucky got absolutely no joy in his boyfriend being sick. He’s not completely heartless. If Sam needs the help, the first person to volunteer it will always be Bucky. They’re idiots in love and nothing will ever change that. But when Sam’s sick he always, ALWAYS, loses his voice. And Bucky, ever the opportunist, takes full advantage of this to tease Sam as much as he possibly can while. It’s a form of payback for all the smartass comments Sam dishes out.

“M’ fine,” Sam wheezes, content that he actually managed a full word this time. “W’ter.”

“I’m sorry, doll, what was that?” Bucky grins as he leans in closer and cups a hand around his ear. “I couldn’t quite make that out.”

“Would you stop bullying him? This is practically domestic violence at this point,” The full disappointed parent voice from Steve and it’s not even lunch time yet. Must be a new record.

“Bully?? I would never bully my darlin’ like that,” Bucky hums and lays it on thick, pressing an exaggerated kiss to Sam’s forehead. Sam snaps his teeth back at him like he’s going to bite him, making Bucky laugh as he finally strolls back into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Sam sits down at the table between Steve and an empty chair, glaring at Bucky all the while. Steve pats his back consolingly.

“Caught that bug that’s been going around, huh, Wilson?” He hums like the bastard he is.

After finishing half the glass Bucky had just set down, Sam shoots Steve a withering glare. “Yeah, yeah. Rub it in, you super-powered asshole.” The effect is lost when he can’t speak a full sentence without his voice cracking.

“Aww, you tell him baby,” Bucky coos as he sits down next to Sam and scoots in close. Everybody else at the table chuckles and then goes back to what they were doing before Sam came in, thank god.

Despite the heated glare Sam directs at him, he still rests his head on the shoulder Bucky offers him. Being sick sucks, especially when five of the six other people at the table are above common colds or the flu. Even worse when your boyfriend is literally evil and embarasses you in front of said super powered friends. 

“You’re the worst,” Sam rasps, resting his eyes just for a moment. On a good day he could appreciate that the glass walls of the compound let in a brightness that beat the buzz of artificial lights anyday. It was bright and scenic and made the space comforting. But as of right now it just increased the pounding behind his eyes tenfold. Maybe getting out of bed was a mistake, if how he was feeling now was any sign, he’d be back in bed soon.

“I know,” Bucky whispers back before pressing his lips against Sam’s forehead in the mock of a kiss. It was his sneaky way of checking his temperature, something leftover from when him and Steve were younger and Steve could still get sick.

Bucky wouldn’t respond if Sam said it out loud, but part of him thinks Bucky misses caring for someone like he had back then. Despite all the shit he likes to give Sam, he never complains once about him getting sick or having to help him out when he can’t get out of bed.

“Does the big baby want me to make him some soup?” Bucky asks in a baby voice, yelping when Sam turns to playful bite the shoulder he’d been leaning on.

“Fuck you, Barnes. I’m going to bed.”

“Aww, come on, sicky! I didn’t mean it! I love you!”

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to suggest prompts or story ideas down below and thank you for reading!


End file.
